What is the Metaverse?
The Metaverse is a hypothetical electronic world that is accessible through the internet. This would be a virtual space that is populated by digital objects that can be interacted with by users. The Metaverse would be similar to the online worlds that are currently available, but it would be more immersive and interactive.
What does it mean for designers?
A world of opportunities. As a designer, it’s always helpful to find new ways to share your work with others in the industry. Metaverse is a great platform for doing just that! By creating an account and sharing your work, you can connect with other designers from all over the world and get inspired by their creativity.
Not only is Metaverse a great place to find inspiration, but it’s also a great way to get your work seen by potential clients. So by sharing your work in the Metaverse, you’re opening yourself up to a whole new world of opportunities.
How can designers make money from the Metaverse?
The world of digital commercial art is growing in leaps and bounds. In the past, designers could only make money online via print-on-demand products. But ever since the introduction of digital currencies like Bitcoin, there has been a remarkable evolution in the marketing of commercial art. NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) have invented a new doorway to valuing original artwork. With NFTs artists and designers are able to create unique artwork with unique identifiers that can hold the value of huge sums of money. NFT art owners can extend the use of their artwork to tangible merchandise or derivative artworks thus creating revenue for themselves.
With that in mind, the Metaverse becomes a platform for selling rare or limited-edition digital goods. As a designer, you can create a range of limited-edition paintings, symbols, logos, buildings, creatures, avatars etc. The possibilities are inexhaustible. While you may be a good designer it is not your skills which will market the artwork. Rather your branding. Commercial art requires that you market a brand over time that will resonate with your target audience. The brand has to be consistent and unique to your style. Such practices will increase the value of your art. A lot of principles that apply in the ‘real’ world in selling art will still apply in the Meta-world. Therefore, it is wise to start getting interested now.
Challenges
Technological setup costs
As Mark Zuckerberg CEO of Facebook and leading technologist for the Metaverse admittedly put it, the technology for the Metaverse is still costly at the moment. As with all new technology, the price point starts high and then becomes more accessible over time. This same evolution can be seen in cellphones and game consoles which a few people could afford upon their introduction but later on, almost everyone could buy them with ease.
The cost problem might hinder the market in 3rd world economies because only a handful of people would be interested because of affordability. Of course, there might be some knockoffs seeping into the market but it is hard to tell what sort of barriers might be placed to block or restrict access to unregistered devices in the Metaverse. After all, besides being a family-friendly world the Metaverse is also a business. I would imagine Zuck and crew would be looking to make some money off accessories.
Connectivity
Most technological breakthroughs are mostly suitable where they are introduced. When it comes to under developed economies things start to come apart at the seams. Internet connectivity is still expensive in continents like Africa not to mention slow speeds. That kind of drawback would kill any ambition for the designer to consider marketing their work in the virtual world. However, the Meta team might be brewing solutions for those challenges such as hosted satellite internet signals which bypass local transmissions. A great example of this is Elon Musk’s Starlink. A lesser yet valid example of such an accessibility implementation is WhatsApp. Its introduction allowed users to call, message and share media at very low expenses whereas in the past users were limited to services like multi-media messaging which would drain their finances.
What do designers need to do to prepare for the Metaverse?
As a designer, you should pay attention to the ongoing developments on the Metaverse. This allows you to stay up to date with opportunities for your input. Also, almost all developers will issue Beta or trial versions of their creations, join or signup for them to experience or gain foresight on the developmental stages of the product.
In addition, as mentioned before, build a unique brand and start marketing it. Branding and marketing your creations will allow you to gather an audience that you can transfer into the Metaverse. For example, if 20k people follow your brand on social media and at least 18k of them enter the Metaverse, they will be looking for your brand or products in that world!
Another recommendation is to connect with other designers from around the world who are also interested in the meta world. Doing this will allow you to share ideas and strategies to enter the Metaverse, collaborate on creations and maybe share a creative studio in the Metaverse.